World roundup: May 6 2022

Stories from Iraq, Cameroon, the United Kingdom, and more

INTERNATIONAL

In today’s global news:

• Worldometer is tracking COVID-19 cases and fatalities.

• The New York Times is tracking global vaccine distribution.

MIDDLE EAST

YEMEN

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen sent 117 prisoners back to Yemen in the care of the Red Cross on Friday, nine to Sanaa and 108 to government-controlled Aden. These are supposed to be part of a batch of 163 prisoners the Saudis agreed to release last month amid Yemen’s ongoing ceasefire and so-far halting attempts to rev up the peace process. However, Yemeni rebels complained earlier this month that many of the people being released are “unknown to us and…are not among our prisoners.” That’s likely to put a damper on efforts to negotiate a larger prisoner swap and, beyond that, an agreement to extend the ceasefire and/or end the war. At least one other aspect of the ceasefire, a pledge to reopen roads through Yemen’s war-torn Taiz province, has not come to fruition over a month into the pause, another discouraging sign.